Documenting the trials and musings of a young man wholly invested in the decorum of the world, the dress of its people, and why any of it matters in the first place. As fashions come and go, we hope the driving pulse stays the same. Realities change and confuse, while the soul holds the truth.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Bad Boy

I started this blog with the specific intention of using it as a means of telling you all about what I am doing in New York. Sadly, I feel like I have already dropped the ball and have already been swept up into the antics and madness of Watermill, giving little time to this project. So, for the sake of telling what is up, here goes:

I'm working at the Watermill Center in Watermill, NY...just a stone's throw from Southhampton on Long Island. Robert Wilson runs the show here. He's quite the giant in the theatre and art world, and takes a few months out of every summer to guide between 50 and 100 artists from all walks through various projects, productions, exhibitions, etc. I am here with architects, dancers, photographers, theatre techs, lighting designers, exhibition curators, actors, costumers, directors and painters to work for Bob for the next 5 weeks. Before our creative work can begin, we have to host the official grand opening benefit of Watermill so interested wealthy patrons, celebrities and supporters of the arts can come and see what we do here (and consequently give more money to keep this joint running). I was standing next to Bob yesterday when he was on the phone with Liza Minelli, convincing her to come. She said she would.

That said, I have spent my first week here with a shovel in my hand preparing the gardens. When I have not been doing that, I've a chance to unload trucks, haul gravel and stones in wheel barrows, and pull weeds from muddy areas on the Watermill land. Its a fashion designer's dream, really.

The work so far is not fun. Its not terrible, though. I have found myself repeatedly telling my new friends that "I have been in the throws of academia for 7 years and am ready for a change of pace." Its true. Shoveling shit and making sense of how to properly plant 75 bamboo plants is suddenly somehow appealing to a guy who has otherwise been fondling fabrics in an art student for 7 years.

Good things are coming, though. I have no doubts about that. My roommate is a window dresser for Bergdorf-Goodman and works part time as Robert Kushner's studio assistant. Another new friend is a fashion exhibition curator and designer in Greece who is currently working on a project to showcase his personal collection of paper dresses from the 1960s and is friends with Walter Van Beirendonck. Jascque, Bob's main costumer designs for opera's all over the world and likes my work.

3 Comments:

Alison Gates said...

Jesus, I have to track you down using google, bloot searches and here you are summering in the Hamptons. Like all that hard work is foreign to you...the non-Americans had not yet met an American before they met you, Mister. A Gay man from Wisconsin, who actually drinks milk and whose father cooks weiners on the lawn at Halloween!

Here's my advice for "camp": Wear a hat, "be yourself and everyone will love you," get some l'Occitaine 20% shea butter handcreme if you're getting too many callouses. And don't wear patchouli. It's not good on fair headed lasses, or lads. And get me a physical address, I have a care package for you. -love, Ali